The 1970-1971 USC Trojans went 24-2, and 12-2 in the Pac-8. Their only two losses were in conference to UCLA (the eventual National Champions). USC was rated #2 or #3 in the country almost all year.

In those days, if you didn't win the conference, you didn't go anywhere. The Paul Westphal-led Trojans, probably the 2nd best team in the country, did not get to go to either the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

Villanova and Western Kentucky's participation in the 1971 NCAA Tournament was vacated by NCAA for using ineligible players.
It turns out that Villanova's Howard Porter and Western Kentucky's Jim McDaniels had already signed contracts with the ABA,
the fledgling league trying to compete with the NBA.

Here's how it was discovered that Porter and McDaniels had signed contracts: ABA Commissioner Jack Dolph left his briefcase
open at the ABA All-Star game, and several reports saw the contracts. To this day, there's controversy whether the
reports opened the briefcase and looked in, or if Dolph left it open. Some say that the Commissioner wanted reports to see
the contracts, to show that the ABA had beaten the NBA for two very good players.